We are currently recruiting an art student/education student or someone with a passion and expertise in graphic arts with the ability to interact well with young people.
Commitment is once a week for an hour, during a 9 month period minimum. The volunteer supplies materials, designs the curriculum and presents the topics each week.

Special Activities programming provides positive and pro-social opportunities for youth who are not generally exposed to the arts, healthy recreational activities or life skills training. This is a way to increase knowledge and skills, to improve communication and sharing in small groups and give juveniles new coping skills that they can apply in their communities.
Some active volunteer projects include dog therapy, AIDS education from BCAP, life skills from SAFEHOUSE and a meditation class. We are open to your ideas for developing other pro-social or educational/cultural classes. The number of youth in the JAC changes daily.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Design and facilitate art/graphic art/drawing activity sessions for youth who are temporarily housed in the Juvenile Assessment Center.
The activity sessions need to be designed to specifically engage youth 11-17 years old in a small group (typically 2-7 people) setting in a one-hour time period. The goal is to provide exposure to a variety of creative and stimulating activities that may serve as positive outlets and alternatives for high-risk behavior. Youth are temporarily held at the JAC, so the program must be contained to 1 hour (not an ongoing program that builds on itself from week to week).

Qualifications and Requirements:

Must be at least 21 years old. NO DWAI/DUI convictions within the past 5 years.

Have a serious desire to work with a diverse population of kids in the criminal justice system. An ability to easily listen and engage with youth while understanding appropriate boundaries is required.
Important personal qualities are having a passion for your project, strong communication skills, creativity, patience and humor. All volunteers must pass a criminal background check and fingerprinting.

Training Dates and Information:

Specific schedule will be discussed with JAC supervisory staff once vetted and approved.

Additional Information:

This type of programming helps kids get their minds off of why they’re in detention, among other things. Promoting pro-social behavior includes engaging youth in projects. Currently we have meditation/yoga, dog therapy, BCAP and Safehouse staff who come to interact with youth in the JAC. If you have an idea for a project, please design the one-hour curriculum and contact us!